The Sea-Wolf by Jack London
When the ship he is a passenger in sinks in a collision off the coast of California, Humphrey Van Weyden is picked up by the crew of Wolf Larsen's ship, the Ghost, a sailboat bound for the sealing fields in the Sea of Bering. Larsen is a bully. Van Weyden witnesses the inhumane treatment of a sick companion, who dies shortly after. He sees a badly beaten cabin boy. In his own interview with the captain, he doesn't fare much better. Instead of promising to help him return to San Francisco, Wolf asks Van Weyden to sign as a cabin boy and stay with his ship.
The crew set to work taking the sails and jibs. From that point on, Hump, like the crew called Van Weyden, learns things the hard way. He must have sea legs, and he must learn the stoic indifference to pain and suffering that sailors already master. As a cabin attendant, he peels potatoes and washes greasy pots and pans. Mugridge, the cook, abuses him and steals his money. Only one man, Louis, seems to share Hump's feelings about the captain and his ship. Louis predicts that many deaths will result from the trip. He said Wolf is a violent and dangerous man and the crew and sealers are vicious outcasts. Wolf looks crazy. It ranges from moods of savage exultation to episodes of extreme depression. In his cabin are classic literature books, and when he speaks he uses either excellent English or seafaring jargon. Sometimes he has fun arguing with Hump. He claims that life is meaningless.
During a southeast, Hump severely dislocates his knee, and Wolf unexpectedly allows Hump to rest for three days while he talks to him about philosophy and literature. When Hump returns to the kitchen, the cook is sharpening his knife. Hump gets a knife and begins to sharpen it as well. Hump's actions frighten the cowardly cook so much that Hump is no longer the victim of the cook's abuse.
Louis talks about the upcoming season with the seals. In addition, he hints that problems will arise if Macedonia, a steamboat, approaches. Captain of Death Larsen, Wolf's brother and foe, Macedonia is a certain threat. As a prelude to things to come, an explosion of fury takes place aboard the Ghost. First, Wolf and his companion beat up a sailor named Johnson to the dough because he complained of mistreatment; then Leach, the former cabin boy, beats the cook. Later, two hunters shoot each other, seriously injuring each other, and Wolf beats them because they paralyzed before the start of the hunting season. Wolf subsequently suffers from one of his periodic headaches. For Hump, life on board is a tremendous experience of human cruelty and wickedness.
A few days later, the men try to rebel. In the row that follows, Johansen, the companion, drowns and Wolf is nearly killed. As Hump heals Wolf's wounds, Wolf promotes him to mate in place of Johansen. Leach and Johnson would kill Wolf in a second, but he remains too suspicious of them. On the seal hunting grounds, a terrible storm claimed the lives of four men. The ship itself is battered, its sails torn to shreds and parts of the deck washed out into the sea.
When Leach and Johnson desert in a small skiff, Wolf sets off after him. On the morning of the third day, an open boat was sighted. The boat contains a young woman and four men, survivors of a sinking steamboat. Wolf takes them aboard, planning to make sailors into men like he did from Hump. Soon after, the Ghost overtakes Johnson and Leach. Refusing to pick them up, Wolf lets them struggle to get on board until their small boat capsizes. He watches them drown without commenting, then orders the ship to head back to the sealing grounds.
The surviving woman is Maud Brewster, a wealthy woman and a poet. She is physically weak, as was Hump. Wolf resents the privacy that arises ...
